Jacques Villeneuve believes Leclerc wasn't ready for a leading role at Ferrari

Jacques Villeneuve has admitted that he thought Charles Leclerc wasn't ready to take on a leading role at Ferrari this season. Despite this, the 22-year-old finished in 4th in the drivers' standings, surprisingly, ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel.

On several occasions, the Ferrari drivers had tensions between themselves, causing problems on the track, something which Villeneuve felt could have been avoided.

"Ferrari crashed this year and it depends a lot on your two drivers and the team was just not balanced," Villeneuve said in his column for Formule1.nl.

"Ferrari never said to Leclerc: 'This is your first year with us and your second year in F1. Relax and learn from Vettel. ' The team would have advanced further than now.

"Instead, in the first race, Leclerc put himself in the position saying 'I will show that I am the boss and that Vettel in the past and I am the future.

"There was a wave among the fans who thought Leclerc was coming to save them and the media followed him. "